Counting hard 29th July

John is on holiday for today's class, but we have Andrew instead. He gives me a challenge to try to make my front crawl more efficient - each length try to reduce the number of strokes, by stretching the arm forward further and back on each stroke. It's quite a challenge - and that's just the mental maths! It's natural to count strokes per breath, so group the strokes into 3's or 4's or 5's etc, but then I lose count of how many breaths, and have to remember to count the occasional even numbers at the start and end of each length. I get the hang of it, and by the end of my 20-plus lengths ( I lose count of those I'm so busy counting strokes) I have reduced by number of strokes from 34 to 24 per length - my personal best - but seemed to get the average down significantly.

500m

July 28th Under the bridge at Shillingford

Claire (George's 'birth twin' - born on same day) and her family come down from London to meet us in Shillingford, to go for a river trip and a swim. The Shillingford Bridge Hotel has an outdoor pool set on grassy bank next to the river Thames, accessed by a path underneath the bridge. It's a gorgeous place to enjoy a Pimm's in the sunshine, a swim with a beautiful view, followed by a trip in a little boat we hire from the hotel for an hour. We take tea on board, and let the teenagers steer us under the bridge and back up river towards Benson. Perfect.

250m

Not swimming but paddling Sat 27th July

Hot, hot weather. The grandchildren are staying and we decide it is too hot to drive far, so we walk up to Cutteslowe where they have great fun feeding the ducks, the older one is very adventurous in the play area, and then in the paddling pool. She soon learns the local game - follow a line of mostly bigger kids climbing on to and jumping off the little ship in the middle.

On but not in The River Cherwell 21st July

My friend Peter makes coracles and on this Sunday morning he has invited me to join him on the water to try one out

In the afternoon I go punting further down river through the University Parks, with my nephew and his fiancee.

Guerilla Singing, and Mindfulness 13th July

Organised by friends who live on Otmoor, a group of us meet in Charlbury at the railway station - most of us have travelled by train - and walk to the local church for our first sing of the day. We walk about 8 miles through the countryside, popping up to sing in the village churches in Spelsbury, Shorthampstead, and Chadlington, ending up in the pub in Charlbury for supper in the pub before getting the train home. Along the way I have a chat about swimming with another singer. She has been swimming regularly since childhood - used to compete - and says for her it is essential regular exercise, when she can take time to think through things in her head. She describes how she can swim very efficiently length after length, the way most of us can walk for miles - on auto-pilot. It strikes me again how I am still at a stage where I have to stay focused on the process to swim 'properly'. This means I can't be on auto-pilot, lost in thought (at best) or troubled by an over busy mind: the mindful process of each stroke and each breath takes me out of myself (?) - my mind - into my body, breathing, the water.

First visit to Hinksey this year! July 17th

It's mid July already and this is my first visit of the season to Hinksey outdoor pool. It's a measure of the poor weather we've had so far this summer. It's gorgeous now, hot and sunny. I cycle down the Abingdon road after work and enjoy a lovely dip in the water. I swim about 250m

My birthday treat: Cycling down river

I cycle down the canal, joining the river near Binsey, just north of Osney Island, where I continue down the river to Folly Bridge. I am on my way to visit my new friend, Gina, the jeweller I met singing on May 1st. We have coffee in her studio looking over the water, while she shows me some of her wonderful collection of beautiful sea glass. I choose some gorgeous greeny turquoise bits of glass, polished soft and smooth by the sea. She is going to set them for me as earings and a ring. Bits of the sea to carry with me wherever I go.

To complete my birthday treat I cycle back up to Ferry pool in time to catch the end of the Swim Fit class, and do 10 lengths: 250m

Bathing in Bath July 8th

An overnight trip to Bath Spa with some girlfriends. We spend the afternoon in the Thermae Bath Spa, swimming in the open air roof top

pool in the naturally heated thermal waters. Well, not much swimmimg goes on. I have a lovely time floating on my back with my eyes closed, being gently pushed and pulled around by my toes.

Down in the Minerva Pool I do some swimming, going against the current of the gentle 'river' that flows around the central jacuzzi. I reckon I do about 250m.

July 1st: Swimmers are doing it for themselves

I go to the class but Johny's away today. I try to practise what we were doing last week - increasing the number of strokes per breath. It seems a lot harder this week but encouraged by my leaderless classmates I persevere and swim 24 lengths:        600m

June 2013:

3 successive Mondays I get to the class and do at least 500m each time.

On 24th I am working on slowing down my breathing. Johny the instructor suggests increasing the number of strokes per breath each length, breathing every 3rd stroke, then 5th, then 7th, then every 9th, and then reversing the process. It feels it is making me slower  - it is really that I am calmer, but actually more efficient. When I get back to breathing on every 5th stroke I feel much more relaxed and am able to swim successive lengths without collapsing at each end fighting for breath! I swim 30 lengths without feeling I've put in any more effort.

Down on the farm ....May half term

Tom and the whole family are away, so have asked farmer George to look after the animals while they are away: ducks, geese, bantams, hens, guinea fowl, piglets, ferrets, and lambs, including Barley, who was rejected as a new-born and is still getting a bottle feed a couple of times a day.

I have to be back for work for most of the week but I do get one lovely swim in the pond on Sat 1st June, after a very wet walk around Faversham.                          250m

May 13th another 500m

back in the pool again, for another 500m

May Bank Holiday: Minehead Beach and Butlin's!

6 Dads and I take George's football team to Minehead Youth Hostel for a weekend of footie. We mostly play well but still lose. The weather is dry and bright, but there's a cold wind, so I'm the only one whobraves the beach on our Sunday afternoon off; all the kids go to Butlins' Splashworld.

The sea is not too cold, and it is good to escape the wind on the beach. I don't stay in for long but probably swim 250m.

Once out of the sea I head straight for Butlins where I have a deliciously hot shower before joining the boys in the indoor world of splash! It is actually great fun riding the tubes and the raft slide, battling the machine driven waves and swimming round and round the island along the 'river'. I think I can claim another 250m

May Morning - Madrigals not mad wriggles floating over the water

Am invited to sing Madrigals from the top of a folly on Folly Bridge. We start at 7am rather than 6am, so keen May morningers can hear the choristers sing from the top of Tom Tower in Magdalen College, then stroll up to Carfax and down the Abingdon road to Folly Bridge. Although I don't get to swim I sing surrounded by water, atop a tower on a little island in the Thames. The early morning mists clears and it is the most beautiful morning. We have breakfast in the delightful restaurant just beneath the bridge, as if floating on the water. One of the singers I meet is a jeweller who makes lovely pieces from sea glass. I collect bits of sea glass when beachcombing, and love the way they reflect water and the sea. I'm captivated by her beautiful collection from beaches all over the world.

Mon 29th April

Back in class: 650m

Sat 20th April

Sat afternoon open swim session in the Ferry Pool.  500m

15th April Monday in the Pool

500m